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Wild Friends is a portfolio company of Cambridge Companies SPG. Cofounded by Keeley Tillotson and Erika Welsh in 2011 at the University of Oregon, Wild Friends produces nut butters and related items nationally at stores including Target, Publix and Kroger.Cambridge Companies SPG

Cambridge Companies SPG is an investment firm led by sister and brother duo, Polina Chebotareva and Filipp Chebotarev, that specializes in consumer food and beverage companies.Cambridge Companies SPG

This disheartening trend represents part of the investment thesis behind Cambridge Companies SPG, an investment firm led by sister-and-brother duo, Polina Chebotareva and Filipp Chebotarev, that specializes in consumer food and beverage companies. Their portfolio includes six solely female-founded companies, including Wild Friends, Owl's Brew and Nona Lim, as well as four companies with at least one female founder, like Foodstirs and Once Upon a Farm. This is on top of their other investments in well known food and beverage brands such as Ancient Nutrition and MatchaBar, which total to over $20 million invested in food and beverage brands since July 2016.

Cambridge Companies SPG is an investment firm led by sister and brother duo, Polina Chebotareva and Filipp Chebotarev, that specializes in consumer food and beverage companies.Cambridge Companies SPG

The brother and sister find the aforementioned funding disconnect a particularly large missed opportunity in the consumer food and drink space, where the male-centric point of view often overlooks the preferences of the other 50% of the consumer market. Filipp believes that the gender-diverse dynamic between him and his sister is what has led the pair to identify opportunities in arguably some of the most notable women owned businesses in this space.

"What we're seeing is that most capital is managed by men, who have a hard time connecting with the perspectives of women. But when we look at the consumer market, half of our customers are women, and often times they are more important than male customers because they are driving the purchasing decisions for a household," says Filipp. "Women are also excellent operators and have a great view on the market, but their businesses are not being funded to the same degree."

Filipp believes that Drybar is a prime case study for how investors have missed notable opportunities because of lacking gender perspective in firm leadership. The blow-drying hair chain, which has raised $48.5 million in funding and expanded to 100-plus locations, initially confused investors with its seemingly ephemeral value proposition.

“I remember hearing about Drybar from an associate who had seen the deal. He said, ‘This Drybar doesn’t cut or style hair. They just serve champagne and dry hair. It doesn’t make sense,’ " he added. "And now obviously it is a wildly successful company, but a man would have a hard time understanding how that business would appeal to such a large population."

Drybar founder Alli Webb is on scene at the opening day of Dry Bar in Upper Georgetown in Northwest Washington. October, 20, 2012 in Washington, DC. The The blow-drying hair chain which has since raised $48.5 million in funding and expanded to 100+ locations initially confused investors with its seemingly ephemeral value proposition.

Despite emergent research suggesting that female-led startups can have upwards of a 35% higher ROI compared to male-led ventures, Cambridge Companies SPG does not necessarily actively seek female investment opportunities. Rather, the firm believes that it does a better job interpreting the models and needs of the female-founded companies it comes across, in part because it welcomes more diverse perspectives.

"In the end it is all about the deal. It just so happens that many of our companies have a female founder. They just do a great job," explained Polina in reference to her firm's investment strategy.

"My outlook is that men and women equally do an amazing job, and when they partner up they do an even better job," added Filipp. "It's so important to have Polina in the room to bring her perspectives because when our approaches are combined, it helps all parties get the whole picture."

Cambridge Companies SPG's sister and brother leaders aim to use gender diverse perspectives to better assess and fund female-led food and beverage businesses. Their thesis seems to already be paying off in its returns from notable companies including Foodstirs, which expanded to 7,500 stores and 8,000 Starbucks locations a year after the firm led its Series A funding round.Cambridge Companies SPG

One such high growth company that the pair uniquely saw potential in was Foodstirs, a baking kit and mix company known in part for its cofounder actress Sarah Michelle Gellar. Despite identifying a retrospectively obvious market gap in organic and non-GMO baking kits, the founding team, which also included Galit Laibow and Greg Fleishman, did not feel that investors were taking their business model or celebrity partner seriously.

Following its Series A round led by Cambridge Companies SPG, the company rapidly expanded to 7,500 stores and 8,000 Starbucks locations in just a year. "Galit and Sarah have done an amazing job understanding the consumer who is mostly female when it comes to baked mixed products, as well as executing on the business," explained Filipp.

Ultimately the pair believes that increasing diversity in investment teams will ultimately help more female-founded companies garner funding in the future. "Overtime people like us need to be examples to become the social norm and lead by example," added Polina.

Research seems inconclusive about whether female investors do indeed increase funding for female founders across all industries due in part to the recency of many female partner appointments. More recently, Andreessen Horowitz appointed Kathryn Haun as its first female general partner, alongside Greylock's promotion of Sarah Guo as its youngest and only female general partner, for example.

Follow Christina's food industry insights by following her at her Forbes blog.

I am a food and agriculture business writer. My work has been featured in Mashable, The A.V. Club, Culinary Institute of America, SF Chronicle, Yahoo, The Huffington Post and more. I am a MasterChef Top 100 finalist. I created food site Pâté Smith, as well as run music news ...